phoenix
by Aiko Isari
Summary: A disappointment. That's all he's ever been to his father. No training has changed that fact. But then, Shoto meets one of his greatest heroes. From that ultimate chance comes the ultimate betrayal. And from that betrayal comes freedom for them all.
1. Chapter 1

_Warnings: Child abuse, AU, violence, family issues,_ quirkless _character._

* * *

 _Chapter One - Life is Too Short_

Todoroki Shoto is five years old and his face is burning under his father's fingers.

If he was older, he would have commented that this wasn't common. His father preferred to let him hurt and exhaust himself from his trials. Hurting him himself was counterproductive and inefficient. He would be obvious that way and be in jeopardy in some way. And it would make him more of an ineffective clone than a superior product.

Todoroki Shoto is five years old and therefore has yet to swallow a dictionary like Yaoyozoru Momo or even Iida Tenya. Instead, he's focusing on the fact that he cannot see and _everything hurts_ and his parents are screaming at each other.

He's focusing instead on how his sister is carrying him out of the house, running so loudly her bare feet are slapping the ground and bleeding, he can smell it. Her tears are cool like the night air. Her tears are freezing and feel nice where his face hurts.

His are just tears and they hurt even more.

He can't open his eyes for hours.

By the time he can, it's only the one. He breathes sharp gulps of air and looks at Fuyumi even though that hurts too. Her grey eyes are puffy red and she's trembling as she smiles.

His parents are nowhere in sight.

There's a man, a police officer he thinks, at her side. Todoroki Shoto is too young to be just angry at his father, yet not broken enough to lie. Because he has seen good heroes, real heroes, alongside his father. And his father doesn't lie, except to himself. He's always painfully honest.

So when the man and the people behind him ask what happened, he tells them honestly, as a good hero should.

(A different Shoto, the Shoto without his mother around, the Shoto who burns and freezes, would not have said a word. He would have, seemingly, known better. He would have come to the conclusion that he would not have been saved, nor gotten help.)

It's both fortunate and unfortunate for him that a strange skinny man with drooping blond hair happens to be passing by. He sees him walking by with a soda and pausing for a candy bar. He overhears. Shoto doesn't think anything of it.

Because he has to answer the questions, and that includes answering the data ones on the clipboard. And so, without hesitation, he tells the doctor and the policemen, to Fuyumi's utter horror, that he is Quirkless. He doesn't look at them while he does this because he is supposed to be ashamed. And he is. He is other things, but he was being a disappointment.

(This word he knew because his father has said it enough to his sister and brothers. It was easy to figure out.)

Ten minutes after the strange, whispering men leave, there is a bright, beautiful glow from one side of the hall. It hurts his one seeing eye and yet he can't look away from it.

Because out of the light walks All Might, ducking through the doorway and smiling. His hair seems sharper than usual. He is unmistakable, though, dressed in clothes that barely fit, warmth rolling off like he is a walking heater.

"Hello, my boy!" His voice booms as he seats himself in a small chair. It looks… silly. But one does not laugh at All Might, ever. It's just not done. "And hello, dear girl! I heard you have been through quite an ordeal tonight, so I am here to keep you company!"

Fuyumi looks at her brother. She stares back at him and perhaps it's because of the needles sticking out of his arm but she looks too small for the chair, fragile and stuttering, with snowflakes melting in her hair.

His sister is really pretty, he thinks from far away. She's pretty even with those burns on her arms. When did they get there?

"It doesn't help that _All Might_ is in the room, bright as a good, warm fire.

"You're here for us?" And in the back of his mind, Shoto realizes his voice sounds like a frog croak. He giggles. Everything is very funny now, swimming with fish and seaweed.

Shoto giggles again.

All Might discreetly reaches over and presses a button on the wall. "I am, my boy." His gravelly voice is softer now, gentle in a way his father never was. "I used to be in hospitals quite a bit you see. I know how boring and lonely it must be."

That has to be a lie, because this tall man, a monster of strength and heroism could never be in a hospital, and _certainly not_ because his father was angry.

"Not for your reasons," he continues in that steady voice. "But my body wasn't built for life at first. We had to put me back together and then my Quirk could work properly." He reaches out and his hand is so big and all-encompassing that Shoto can't help but flinch. The man pulls it away and without thinking, Shoto reaches for it. His small hands loop around an index finger.

He is… so small.

"You will grow," All Might says with a pleasant, soft smile.

Shoto is five years old and only one adult has betrayed him, second to the doctor who checked him for Quirks. Even his father has not betrayed him yet.

He believes in his hero, the greatest _hero_ of all.

* * *

Her brother sleeps in the bed. Their parents are still not here.

Fuyumi can only guess what is happening at home. A lot of ignored phone calls and paperwork as the two of them try again to make the perfect child and her brothers tiptoe around to get leftovers.

Mother won't say so, she won't because she was raised better but there's a sickening part of her that wants what Father wants. The perfect, ultimate child, the perfect Quirk only hindered by humanity, which can't be removed but can be knocked out.

She believes the lie. Otherw,ise they would have stopped a long time ago. Father can melt mother's ice, but only if she lets him. Otherwise, their brothers would not have been forgotten, ignored, after manifesting. Or not, as the case would be, once.

Shoto had looked perfect, had looked complete and necessary and needed. He was meant to have the quirk that would surpass Father.

And he just did not. He could not. It was genetic.

Fuyumi studied Quirks, studied their pathway through the body, the way they altered and why it was four years old and not at birth where they truly manifested in completion, despite beginning to form from the womb.

She had been able to grasp what her father and mother refused to hear: their quirks had canceled each other out this time around, rather than merging in perfect harmony.

And now their perfection was ruined.

(It's not that she hates her mother more than her father, it's not that her mother is not kind and good and that her father isn't merciless and unfair.

It's that Fuyumi watches two boys after her go through the same as her and is sick with guilt, of her own silence, sick with the memories of closed doors and pain, pain, pain and knowing why, and knowing it will happen again.

It's not that she doesn't know what kind of monster Endeavor is, and what he can make people do, who created him, she's the only child who does, but she remembers her mother's silence.

She remembers begging and getting nothing back. She remembers a kindergarten teacher on her first big mistake, saying to her excuses that she only watched that "it takes two to tango" and never ever forgetting it.)

"Dear girl."

Fuyumi jumps. "Y-Yes, sir?!" She remembers being Shoto's age and one moment too far and needing glasses ever since from being unable to look away from the bright hot flash _agony_. By contrast, All Might glows like a fire from behind the grate. He is safe and far away, to a point.

"May I ask you a few questions?"

She goes stiff, tongue in the roof of her mouth. She can lie. She can lie well. She has been betrayed, ignored, bullied _just enough._ But All Might gives off the aura that pierces through even the most cynical heart. So she nods.

"Where are you injured?" His voice is sober and big and encompasses even the sounds of her brother sleeping. There's a tiny (likely actually huge) first aid kit in his lap. "Your feet tracked blood into the room."

Fuyumi can do it herself. When he leaves she can hide in the bathroom and fix everything. But he's likely not going to leave until her parents return. She moves to lift her legs and then restrains a sob. Because she had carried her brothers out first and fallen multiple times in the process. They had cried and spit and snarled but let themselves be locked in rooms with open windows and instructions on where to go and what to do. They are old hands at this too.

And by the time she had gotten back to Shoto she had had just enough power to save the eye, just enough to misdirect the burns with her body and pay pay pay and run run _run_ -

She must look as bad as she feels, she realizes.

His touch is quick, firm and gentle, applying medicine and gauze too fast for humans to do and Fuyumi can't help but cry because stings still hurt and she had almost been the forgotten older one so the memories had faded away into some drawer somewhere. But they hadn't. Not enough.

She tells him many things that she shouldn't in those moments. Tells him that Endeavor only drinks when he can destroy the evidence and never smokes, tells him he makes every meal for their birthday and no one cares if it's burnt because it's him being kind. She tells him about how her mother makes cold drinks perfectly and sometimes she marks them with her pen because she confuses two of the boys and that she babbles to her parents when she thinks her door is locked. Fuyumi tells him that she has all the records of the marriage, all the records of her father's work. She tells him everything that she can.

 _Except one that she will never tell anyone until it comes out._

Kindness opens so many doors but a reputation does even more.

And when he asks, "What is your quirk, dear girl" Fuyumi, drunk on common decency and a chance at being safe and even her own guilt and hypocrisy, raises her hands.

One hand forms snowflakes, then shards of ice and a pillar of flame rises from the other. Then, with ease, they slip, one over the other, to the other side.

"My fault," she says. "All mine. But I was lonely. I was alone and he's heavy. You understand because you have to save everyone, you understand, right?"

All Might pats her head and watches her lower her arms in defeat. "Yes," he says in an old voice that doesn't sound like All Might at all. "I do."

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ Been sitting on this fic for a while! Yahoo! I finally figured out how I wanted to do it and boy has it changed since I started. This was just supposed to be about Shoto and coming to terms with his place having the Quirk of the man his father envies the most but I realized I needed a lot of setup so here is the setup and it's a lot of fun. Not for the characters though. But this has become quite a ride, so thanks to the members of the MHA BROFEST on tumblr for making it.

Challenges: MHA Brofest (Championship Tier), Novella Masterclass MHA 5.


	2. Chapter 2

_Warnings: Accurate to last chapter, apologies for the utter delay with this._

* * *

 _Chapter Two - Food and Family_

Shoto wakes to sunlight creeping through the blinds, to the feeling of pain and the sounds of his oldest sister sniffling in her sleep.

It is hard to tell at first because he can only see out of one eye. It doesn't hurt as bad as it could have but he thinks it would have if it had been a few moments later. If nee-san hadn't helped.

Dimly, he hopes his brothers are okay.

They'd probably escaped by now. They usually go through their windows and would come home a few days later. Shoto never remembers what the lie is. Father doesn't even care since they aren't special.

Will he be like that now, since he can't produce a snowflake or an ember? Since he's Quirkless?

He hopes so. He hopes with every thought that he and his everything will just go ignored and he can go to school and be a good boy, an office worker or an astronaut, or even a hero's assistant if he's lucky.

Something out of the way, where his father won't have to look at him anymore.

… where is he anyway?

This makes Shoto sit up. Where's mom? Where is everyone? Why is he only with Fuyumi-nee-chan?

His breath catches and for the second time in twelve hours he cries.

(He is still too young to understand that not crying is a terrible thing. So he does it innocently and with the feelings he needs.)

It wakes his sister and Fuyumi rushes to him, drawing him close into her arms and something sticks in his throat like bad taffy.

"Where are they?" He begs. "Can we go home?"

He's still young and therefore he knows what makes parents important is that they are the ones who handle these sterile health things that they shelter and feed and nurture or that they should. So where are theirs? Where is everyone?

"I dunno," she says. And that's the truth. Fuyumi doesn't lie to him. She has one like, he knows, because he heard her whispering to him one day when he was supposed to be sleeping. Saying sorry for something and that it's important for a little while longer but for what he doesn't know. "I think… All Might said they'll be held back until everyone gets talked to and people check your eyes. How is your eye?" The last sentence is well-practiced, like every time one of them gets hurt for one reason or another.

"Hurts," he says. She nods and keeps her hands around his thin chest. She trembles around him.

"Nee-chan?" He says, touching the bandages on her arms.

She lets out a sob. And Shoto hugs her as hard as he can.

 _She's in pieces_ , he thinks. _I can be her glue._

(It's not true but kids have overactive imaginations.)

* * *

A nurse comes into the room and finds them like this. She doesn't laugh. Shoto is happy that she doesn't laugh.

Instead, she gives them both a checkup with her fingers. Careful touches that note every flinch and count every single time Fuyumi-nee-chan twitches (fifty-seven) and eventually replace the puffy thing over his burn. She washes his face with a cotton ball and some green stuff again and it smells weird. But it feels cool against where it hurts so Shoto stays still even when it tickles.

The old stuff looks awful, crusty and red.

Nee-chan's arms, chest, everything, look just as bad.

He swallows. It was for him.

It was because of Father.

His hands ache as he curls them into fists but he still does it. It helps a little.

He loosens them after because it hurts and lets his body be carried and held because he wants to walk but Shoto doesn't think he can.

Guilt chews on him, deep in thought.

Shoto says nothing, burying his face in his sister's shoulder. She shudders against him but squeezes with affection.

The doctor arrives and leads them to a cafeteria. He can't see, but he can still smell and it smells like grease and plants, barely overpowering the cleaning supply scent in the halls.

"Shoto! Fu-nee!"

Shoto turns his head. Their brothers sit at a table surrounded by the most western breakfast that he had ever seen. Like the table seemed to be groaning under the weight of the food.

… it smelled sweet.

"Good morning!" The sparkle of light from behind the counter turns into a full force wave of light as All Might flips a pancake. "Have no fear, for _I_ am here, making breakfast while we await calls!"

… it has to be early, otherwise, the room would be full of All Might's fans and admirers, like on TV. And it also would then make sense for the greatest hero to be wearing an apron and have him not be dreaming.

"Good morning," he mumbles.

Hirose looks at him over a pile of pancakes, stretched, ashy cheeks for once free of his usual high collar and sickness mask. (There is another word but Shoto can't remember it.) "You look like crap," he says, beginning to cut another pile. "Can you chew?"

Anger runs hot under his collar and he sniffles. "Yeah. Course I can."

"The doctor say so?" Hirose's white hair sticks up at odd ends worse than usual today like it had been slammed down by a giant. "Cause you don't have to chew much if you don't wanna." His eyes are blue and fearless and peerless. Hirose is two years apart from Fuyumi, two years and a personality apart. They are like a pair, Shoto knows. He understands something the others can't and he's good at making her smile.

Shoto watches him do it right now. "Think so," he says, letting himself be put to the ground.

"Good," grunts Riki through a piece of bacon. Four years older than him and like none of them, a ball of warmth and joy who makes something somewhere in between. It's why his face looks okay, Shoto thinks. "Because All Might can cook!"

"All in a day's work, my boy!"

All Might somehow bows without losing his chef's hat as he appears in front of them. "Now eat before it's too cold."

Shoto heaves himself into a seat and does so. Fuyumi only watches, small and uncertain.

All Might is still all smiles and hands her a plate of fruit and cottage cheese and a bagel sandwich. "Your ribs and stomach did get a glance," he says and Shoto flushes hard. "Be cautious before joining in."

Something in Fuyumi seems to melt before she sits beside them.

Riki and Hirose, all together, wrap an arm around each of her shoulders. Shoto is squished in the middle.

It's hard to eat like this, but the position is so warm that he doesn't mind a bit.

* * *

"Where's mama?" He asks after they're all put in his hospital room. People had been starting to arrive, which causes All Might to vanish like a ghost and all of them to retreat like a mass of ice and fire.

And him, the black hole who can do absolutely nothing.

Shoto shivers with the weight of the thought and clings to Hirose and Fuyumi's hands despite them not being big enough. Sometimes they had let him fly a little as they went to safety.

"Dunno," Riki says with one eye on the door. "Fu-nee, did they tell you anything?"

She's laying on his bed now, the nurse had insisted. Shoto sits by her bandaged feet and rubs her legs because he's past that point of fear and now is just getting bored. Things don't hurt anymore.

Fuyumi shakes her head. "Nothing… sorry…"

"It's _their fault_ ," Hirose says and his voice sounds just like their dad's for a second. "Not yours. It's just 'cause dad keeps being an idiot. Mom keeps letting him."

"Not Mama's fault," Shoto says, anger at his throat. He can only see his brother because he's turned right. "It's not!"

Hirose only raises an eyebrow and shakes his head. He opens his mouth to say something but then stops. Shoto simmers a moment but a soft, cool touch at his arm makes him stop.

"Doesn't matter whose fault it is," Riki says without even looking at them. "'s just not Fu-nee's. Right?"

"Yeah," Hirose says with a yawn. "We'll find out when the police decide to come back in. They just drove us here after breaking our door. Said the folks needed to have a talk. You told 'em a lot, Shoto."

Shoto furrows his eyebrows, mismatched as he was. "I did?" He can't even remember getting here very well.

"You were apparently loopy but Fu-nee matched enough of it that they could count it."

"They're both in trouble," Riki adds from the door. "Dad's rep has always been sketchy. But mom was always behind him. So she was fine until now. But…" he scratches his head. "Well, it's nothing you need to worry about Shoto."

Shoto bristles. He's not a _baby._ If Mama's in trouble he wants to know. Cause it's not her fault! It's not! Their dad is just… he's just...

Fuyumi shifts a little and he looks down. She's sleeping now, and something in him uncurls and yawns.

Shoto looks back at his brothers. They wear the same smile, full of prankster plots and pride.

"Hiro-nii," he begins. "Why are you mad at mama?"

Riki makes a sound like a scolding tisk.

Hirose twiddles his thumbs and toys with fire at his nails. "Cause she only cares about you kiddo. She had us too."

Shoto frowns. "It's my fault?" Cause that doesn't seem right at all. Mama is always full of love and softness and things that make mothers good.

Hirose clicks his tongue. "Nope, it's like Riki said. It's not about fault. It's just her trying her best like dad is. Their best just sometimes," he spreads his scarred fingers. "Hurts."

Shoto worries his lip. "Okay…"

He doesn't understand. They are upset with Mama but not Father. When it's all his fault. When he's hurting Mama. He doesn't understand.

"Dad wants a way to surpass All Might," Hirose says, playing with blue sparks. "Mom wants to be free sometimes… and the only way is Dad's dream. You see?"

Shoto doesn't see. Not really. But he can kind of imagine now: a future of quiet smiles and private hugs. Of being slowly but surely moved from her lap. Of being brushed off by father's flames.

But that will never happen. Mama loves him.

So she must love them too.

But she still... lets this happen.

Why?


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter Three - Peaches and Cream_

Mama never shows, but the police do. They arrive with large, empty duffles and familiar smiles, like Fuyumi when she is making dinner from the fridge and doesn't want to ask for help.

They all obey those smiles and sit in the cars wuietly all the way home. Shoto fidgets with Riki's fingers. He gets a large smile and a lot of amusement. What else is he going to do, they won't let them take the puffy thing off of his eye!

Their house is as quiet as a grave. Shoto would know, he had seen great-grandma's. Mama isn't there, Father isn't either, though he might be at the office.

"Your mother is currently with her parents, at a hotel." One of the policemen is smiling at him directly and it's _nothing_ like All Might's, not real at all. Instead, it feels like so many other harsh, sad, tired things. Shoto doesn't mean to, but he shrinks behind his sister. She pets his head and is just like Mama. He can almost believe it.

"You're going to collect your most important things and then we'll be taking you to your temporary residence."

"With Mama!" Shoto doesn't mean to insist but he hopes.

The man shakes his head. "No. You're all under investigation, so until we get leave to allow it, you won't be able to see her."

"What?!"

Shoto is supposed to respect police officers, he knows. But he can't help it. He hasn't seen mama all day and _no one_ wants to protect her. _They just want to protect us but father hates her!_ And it's not her fault that Shoto isn't what Father needs. Why won't anyone listen?

He stomps his foot and the man only looks at him with a shuffle in his steps and then walks away.

For a moment, Shoto wishes he was like his father because then his being mad would _matter_. Being mad would make people do what he wanted because otherwise, he would end up hurting them because he was mad.

Then he lets out a hefty sob and Hirose picks him up. He lets him cry and doesn't let Shoto admit that he hates himself more for doing it.

Something about this feels like forever.

* * *

Fuyumi packs each duffle dutifully, Riki at her side. "Dishes too?" he asks, hefting the drawers shut.

"Mm." It may not be forever lasShoto thinks. Fuyumi is relatively certain it will be as long as they decide to try and fight the second greatest hero in Japan. If he cares. She's only useful because she'll do the house things that mom sometimes can't do for a few days. "Not if they're not your favorite."

So it could be a while.

"Pack everything you don't want with you," she mumbles after a while. "And lock it in your closet."

Riki nods. "Good idea."

Their parents had never found their closet keys before and they weren't going to start now.

"Is, is he asleep?" She asks without looking up.

"Out like a light." Hirose sits on the sofa beside their little brother. "Right after that little tantrum there."

"Hiro."

Hirose glances at Riki, blue-grey eyes flaring brighter for a moment like they were in the sun. "Sorry. Just… been a long day."

Riki regards him for a moment more. Then be turns away to pack more things. There is a bit of extra force that almost sends the duffle flying. Fuyumi giggles a little behind her closed hand, before wincing in pain.

"Shouldn't do that too soon, huh?"

"Nope," she said with a weak smile. "Guess not. I'll head to my room."

Before either younger brother can stop her, she goes out of the hall and out of sight.

Riki sighs at the sound of her door closing. "We're screwed."

Hirose rolled his eyes. "Don't be dramatic."

"Says the guy accusing mom."

"She can freeze him." Hirose grunts. "She could divorce him. She could get us to spend more time with Grandma. She could talk to Fu-nee about her quirk… okay, maybe not that last one," he concedes. "Dad would try to force her to catch up on lost time. If he still can."

Riki snorts, opening another pocket of the duffle. The police are outside or in their parents' rooms, more than likely. "Don't give him ideas. She doesn't think anyone knows as it is."

"We know and that's it."

Riki is quiet. "I think All Might knows. He was awful nice this morning. She probably told him."

"We'd be here for summer homework if she hadn't.…" Hirose trails off, flicking fire around his fingers. "God… what are we gonna do?"

"Wait and hope bro." Riki exhales snowflakes. "Wait and hope."

None of them act like Shoto is awake. He doesn't want to admit it either.

* * *

Eventually, he has to wake up and pack his things. He doesn't want to, and drags his feet around the room. Riki watches with a weird smile, like it's funny.

"Things won't change if you're dragging your feet to face them," he says in his usual cheery voice.

Shoto, however, doesn't like it today. It's all smarmy and mean and gross. "How do you know?"

"Cause I tried to do the same thing with Dad a couple of times and training broke my fingers."

Shoto wilts in place. "I…"

Riki heads over to him and begins folding his sheets and the things his fingers are too small to reach. "I miss mom too," he says, cutting off whatever Shoto was going to say (and he doesn't really know what he was going to say). "But we can't see her for a while. I don't like it, but I don't think dad can either."

"Why not?" Okay, no one had told him that for some reason. Which is dumb, he's not a baby. Shoto, trying not to be mad because it didn't work before, picks up his school bag.

"Well." His brother works quickly next to him and Shoto stops to watch, fascinated. "Cause there's probably gonna be a trial for dad. And we'll have to talk. Remember how those guys came in last night?"

"Kinda?" He doesn't remember what he said but he knows they were there. "Nee-chan told you?"

"Yep." Riki snaps the blanket. "So they're probably going to have to do something to dad. No clue how much. He's the second best there is ever. Can't be too much or morale's down the tubes. It puts All Might in a bad place cause he helped us too. But mom will also be blamed for what dad's doing 'cause of what she's not doing. And even if she's not at fault, they want to make sure of her story first. And ours. And it'd be weird if our stories changed after we met her."

Shoto frowns. He's a kid, but he's smart, and none of his siblings exactly baby his brain. His body sure, but that's okay. "Do they think we'd lie to protect Mama?"

Riki opens his closet door. "Yep, or to get dad in worse trouble, and then the paparazzi would get at us like we're trying to ruin his career. That could happen no matter what, but it'll hit _us_ less if we don't interact with her. Cause we're kids who shouldn't be involved."

Shoto nods slowly, beginning to pack again. "So it's not because Mama is bad, but because we want this to work."

"Yep. I think there might also be laws involved." Riki smiles at him. "Good work."

Shoto can't help but smile back, heart warm for a brief second. Then he deflates. "Ri-nii…"

"Mm?"

"I don't have a quirk, do I?"

Riki glances at him. Then he smiles sadly. "Nope. You're our favorite little odd ball that way."

"Is…" Shoto puts his pencil case down. "Is that why this happened?"

Riki walks over to him and squeezes his shoulder. "No. Dad's issues are why this happened. Dad and his crappy parents and his anger issues and inferiority complex are why this happened. Not you. Okay?"

Shoto nods because that's what he needs to do.

Then he hugs his brother because he actually wants to believe him.

Before they can separate, voices filter through the open window.

"I'm sorry, Todoroki-san, but you cannot enter until they are all finished."

"That is my home, not theirs. Are you telling me that I don't belong there?"

Father's voice was strangely quiet, almost nice. Or maybe it's because it's far away because the world has started spinning through his one seeing eye.

"You are forbidden to have contact with the victims, Todoroki-san."

"My children. They're my children. It's an obstruction of justice to keep them from me!" Endeavor's voice has risen slightly, but to Shoto, it still feels far away. Everything has gone seemingly quiet, as if he's up in a plane, far away from him. His eye hurts, but that's all.

He feels something around his waist and his body moving. He wants to resist but the feeling is soft and warm and fuzzy. He hears more talking but it's hard to tell what they're saying. He's not sure it matters.

When the world swims back into focus, he's outside, blinking at the light of the sun and at his father's face.

Shoto doesn't remember walking there but he must have. He stares at his father, who seems to look at him for a solid moment. Then he looks past him, up at someone. All the anger Shoto has feels like it's in someone else's body. He can't speak.

He walks past them, flames and smoke leaking from his face, the ground seems to shake, everything heavy. The door rattles as he slams it shut behind him. All four of them jump and suddenly everything is clear in his head again. Shoto can hear birds across the street.

It's that sound that makes him rush over to the nearest bush and throw up.

 _It's all my fault, it's all my fault, it's-_

Father's eyes had told him so.

If he'd had a quirk, none of this would have happened.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** _Not to spoil but this week's MHA chapter... awwww yuuussss! I'm not gonna change character names at this point until that one thing gets confirmed or denied. But I'm pretty right, and I'm free to run with these things as I see fit. I will be using the name of Mama Todoroki, because she has one now, but as for the sibs... I'll hold off just a tad bit longer.

Anyway, enough squealing, see you next time!


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4: Sandy_

The car ride is blissfully quiet, driven by a female police officer with catlike eyes and a bushy tail that curled around one side of her seat. Fuyumi and Shoto are sleeping, leaned on the window and each other respectively. Hirose is boring his eyes into his own window like he could actually burn through the glass with his eyes.

Riki sure hopes that he can't. His brother's fire powers are enough of an occupational hazard as it is, when combined with how generally irritable he tends to be. He's way too like dad, him and Shoto both.

That means it's up to him to carry the conversation with the nice cop. Which he can. He's good at it. He chatters on about her quirk, makes the stiffness in her shoulders ease out and her smile a little more. This doesn't have to be just a job and it's better if it's not.

Hirose's eyes are on him. They go ignored. It's not like he's doing anything wrong. He just wants to establish good things with these people. They aren't all carbon copies of their parents.

Hirose kicks the back of his chair. It goes ignored. Then he does it again. "What, hothead?" he asks.

"Did you grab any masks?"

For his face. Right. His horribly messed up face that he's ashamed of. "Course I did." __Idiot.__

"Gimme." Hirose's ten-year-old was showing. Great. How much further did they have to go… again?

"They're in the trunk."

Hirose curses and the driver gasps and Riki feels the past fifteen minutes going down the drain. "Be nice."

"You be nice. We're not making the lady stop the car to make you feel better where we're gonna stay." Riki ignores both the woman's faint chuckle and the second kick to the chair. "Stop kicking, idiot. Your shoes are dirty and this isn't our car."

Hirose makes a face. "Who died and made you king of the castle?"

"No one, but if you wake up Fu-nee, I'll get back there and take out your eye." He doesn't mean it. He can __do__ it, but he doesn't mean it. He won't be like dad. He will be better. When he becomes a hero, he'll be able to use his powers for the right things.

Hirose glowers at him but sits back. He does know the danger of waking up their sister. It will wake up Shoto and though the kid means well, he's five. He's a __brat.__ Five-year-olds are brats, he had been one once upon a time.

And the worst place for a brat is the inside of a vehicle.

"Where are we going anyway?" Hirose crosses his arms, petulance filling his ears.

"A summer camp," the officer replies breezily. She's all smiles again, tail and ears relaxed and flat where they are. "There's a fair few adults trying to form alliances."

Hirose perks, leaning forward in his seat. "For quirks?"

Riki rolls his eyes.

"Anyone," the woman says. "The hero rankings have gotten incredibly out of hand in recent years and there's a lot of unnecessary grudge matches and the like, so they're using the summer vacation to cool off."

"Like us." Hirose's blue eyes are gleaming madly now.

"That's the story," she agreed. Her amber eyes were burning with something Riki didn't understand.

Riki shakes his head and settles back to listen to the conversation.

What the woman doesn't say, and he's grateful, is that that may become their reality rather than a lie.

* * *

Shoto wakes up to the sound of honking seagulls and the smell of the beach. He's stiff and his bandage hurts. His fingers creep up to it, Everyone had poked his fingers and told him not to touch it. But no one's looking now and it doesn't really hurt so it can't hurt to give it some air. So he reaches further and further back towards where the bandages are tied and-

Then Shoto can't help but look around. He's all alone in the car with the windows down.

"Oh, there you go."

Hiro-nii is standing by the window. Shoto pouts. So much for taking this stupid gauze out. "Where's everybody?" he asks, trying to sound as grown up as possible like he hadn't been about to do something bad.

"By the sand," Hirose replies while tugging on the door. His voice is muffled. He must have a new mask on. "We're waiting at this beach cabin for a couple of days while they let us into a camp up the way."

"A camp?" That means lots of people will see his face. They'll have quirks and he-

He doesn't. He never will.

(He's too young to know that not having a Quirk may not be the end of the world. He's too young to know anything but what his parents have tried to teach him, what this world enforces upon him.)

"Yeah. For other kids whose families are in a bit of fuss right now over something or other." Hirose sounds bored. He usually does when he's not angry. But Shoto listens a little harder and there's this little happy note in it. He has no idea where it's coming from, how could anyone be happy right now, but it's probably okay. Hirose isn't happy too much.

At least someone likes this whole big thing.

"Come on, kiddo, go outside. There are some kids your age out here. I'm told to let you give your face some sunshine." Hirose gets the door open and a blast of cooler air gets in. Shoto can't help but close his eyes a little. It feels really good.

Shoto perks up a little. "Even the burn?" He's starting to accept it. He wants to know if he can see!

"Yep. Apparently, that police lady's been burned a lot. She wants to see how it does."

"... Oh." Shoto tries to even remember. So much has happened. It's all turning into a mess of goop in his head. "The cat lady?"

"Yeah." Shoto starts to crawl out of the car. "She's really cool. She wants to go into politics in a few years. She was at one of those education overhauls rallies a few months ago and she's interning at the police stations."

Shoto plants his feet on the ground, a grin crossing his face. He knows what this is. He's heard his brothers tease his sister. He's seen it on tv even. "Nii-san has a crush," he declares.

His brother's collar and chin turn pink. "You shut it!" he snaps, then he pouts. Shoto can see it in the way it moves the mask. "I do not."

"You do!" Shoto points at him, still beaming. "Is she nice? Will Mama like her?"

Hirose swats at him. "She's sixteen!"

Shoto frowns, dodging as a matter of habit. "So?"

"So everything! I'm ten you loony!"

 _ _What does that have to do with anything?__ Shoto rolls his eyes. "I'm gonna tell them."

He darts away and forgets the bandages are on, forgets that his brother is squawking after him like somebody's old parrot. The sun is warm and everything is not okay, but it will be better. It will be much better soon.

"Nii-san has a girlfriend!" he gasps at Riki when he gets to where he's burying some random boy in the sand.

Riki blinks at him. "I do?" Shoto shakes his head and watches the smile slowly cross Riki's face. "Oh, he __does.__ " He glances over to where Fuyumi is dusting sand off her shoes and dumping out a crab. "Fu-nee, you need to go give Hirohiro the talk~"

" _ _No__ ," she says back, going to Shoto instead. "He's got the internet."

"Mom always said you can't just believe everything online." Riki tries to sound solemn and fails, grinning too wide.

Shoto twitches as Fuyumi gently unravels the bandage and removes the pad from in front of his eye.

Everything at once feels cooler. It still feels fragile on his face. Shoto raises his fingers to touch it. Fuyumi looks at him with her solemn stare. "It'll scar," she tells him. Her voice doesn't stutter. It hasn't stuttered this whole time, hasn't wavered. "Can you see?

Her bandages are still visible, thick and dry and obvious and for a moment, Shoto thinks of being angry enough for people to look at him.

Instead, he squares his shoulders. "I'm not a baby," he says with as much strength as he has. "I'll look cool with a scar." He blinks both eyes and nods slowly. "I think so."

She smiles big enough to hurt her cheeks and Shoto wonders just long enough if this is how the others feel every single day.

He doesn't like it. Not at all.

Then the half-buried boy kicks free, something silver bursting from the sand. "Ew," he grumbles, I got sand on it…" He looks up at Shoto. "Can you help me to the water? I gotta wash it or I'll have sand in me for weeks."

Shoto is torn between saying no, because now __he's__ covered in sand, and asking just what it would mean to have sand in you, and if that was bad why he had been buried in it anyway.

Not sure how to say that, he nods and grips the hand offered to him. It's as small as his, but somehow the boy seems a lot older like he's already settled in something. Still, Shoto is stronger. He pulls him up and gets a big, triangular grin.

"Wow." He is so close, too close. "You're __tough."__ He shakes their hands, still holding it. "I'm Sero!"

Shoto hesitates because now he can't just not answer. That's rude. "Shoto…" Not his last name, this person might know his dad and that could make things hard.

"Cool!" Sero takes a step forward and stumbles. "Whoa, my legs are all prickly!"

He's… weird. Super weird. But after everything, Shoto kind of wants weird. So he leans on Sero and moves them forward without a word. He doesn't need a Quirk to help with this.

In the background, he can hear his brothers bickering and his sister sitting back down but the water is louder and warmer from here. His left eye is still fluttery and sore but that's okay for now. He doesn't need to think about it.

Unfortunately, Shoto is not that strong and they end up face first in the water.

It should hurt to hit all that sand. But instead, Shoto finds himself laughing.

Sero laughs too. "Hey," he says. "Wanna see a fish?"

Shoto thinks about his nice shirt. Thinks about his parents. Thinks about everything and it's too much.

He nods and impulsively grabs Sero by the hand for the second time.

Sero's grin gets wider. "Awesome! Let's go!"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five - A Quartet

A whole night passes with the children all sleeping under the roof of what really is a summer home. It's quiet, but they don't unpack. The adults are still figuring out if camp will be held here or somewhere in the woods. Honestly, Shoto doesn't care right now.

He misses home now, but home wouldn't let him have friends. Home didn't give him anyone to talk to.

He likes having Sero a bit more than having home and he would feel bad about that some other time.

Right now, he is sitting in the sand. He watches the fire, watches his sibling pass stick after stick to each other, like the fire won't dare to touch them. Like it can't burn them like it does him. Like it did him.

His eye aches.

Riki brings him two sausages and a smore. Shoto looks at them with a wrinkled nose and gets a grin in return. "American camp food, sport," he says, winking. "Do I sound it?"

"American?" Shoto repeats. He huffs. "No. You sound dumb."

"So like he normally sounds," Hirose comments lazily from across the fire. "Good to know."

Riki jumps him and Shoto finds himself drawing breath a little too hard, a little too fast and then nothing happens. They just wrestle and get sand in their clothes and Sero laughs at them and _nothing happens._

Shoto flushes with guilt and anger and pain.

What… what was supposed to happen?

He doesn't know, he has no idea.

Fuyumi's fingers ghost over his cheek and he leans against her, the coolness of the flesh a balm on his sweaty cheek.

"Eat," she orders gently. "You'll feel better."

Shoto doubts this, but he does what he's told. The marshmallow is sweet, sickly so, on his tongue at first, but it's soft and easy on his injured cheeks. Much easier than All Might's food the morning before.

He almost blanches because that sounds ungrateful. ALl Might had made him food, he needs to just be grateful-

A hand smooths his hair flat. Fuyumi smiles again, sadness and weariness all over her body. "It's better, huh?"

Shoto smiles timidly, nods, and takes another bite.

It is. He feels bad until it starts to taste really good.

* * *

The fire is starting to die when another two vans roll up the beach.

Shoto, having been dragged along to kick a ball around in the sand (Ri-nii says it's called soccer but Shoto is pretty sure that soccer has rules and rounds and points and isn't just trying to dodge Hiro-nii's head aiming kicks) doesn't see it at first.

Then Sero starts shouting. He had been the only one to stay by the fire (still brushing sand from his tape dispensers) and was already up and yelling. All three boys look up then rush over.

Shoto is relatively sure he'll be useless, but even if he is, at least he'll be with his family.

Instead of seeing something big and hulking (like a villain! Or an angry cheetah!), instead two girls step out of the van. The first bounces in her tank top and jeans, helping the other down into the sand.

"Told you the skirt was a bad idea, Momochi," teased the first, the earphone jacks in her head dangling about as she moved. Her short dark hair is crusted with pink at the edges and she looks fondly at the other in her little skirt.

"I need the space," the other insists, letting herself be carried down.

"These our last two then?"

Shoto jumps. He had forgotten about the policewoman. She had spent so long lounging in the sand she had practically become invisible. Maybe that's her quirk more than being the part-cat. She slides in front of them in the most feline saunter Shoto has ever seen and it's just so cool. He wants to be able to walk like that someday.

His brothers do something like that when father is home, maybe they can show him.

Before Shoto can quite follow that train of thought, the other girl is dancing about with sound about her heels.

"We're here, dad! You can stop retching now!"

"Your father wasn't retching," they hear, though that voice is fraught with laughter. (Shoto likes that word, fraught. He had seen it in a book once.) "HE was merely showing his dislike of cars."

The girls, even the one in the cute dress, both giggle at the sound. Two bags, big and heavy and probably carrying their money and things, hit the ground with thuds. Shoto is almost jealous until he remembers their bags on the deck of the small building… condo? What is it called?

Eh, whatever. There are more important things.

"Bye dad!" calls the first girl. The second bows awkwardly at the car. People inside presumably wave farewell (Shoto feels that throb of jealousy linger this time) and then the people inside begin to back it out.

Soon, the car is off in another direction and the policewoman is staring at them all. She puts her hands on her hips and tries to look stern. "All right," she says. "Time to head into that cabin. We'll make some real food."

"I thought that was real food," Hirose stage whispers. Riki elbows him right in the ribs.

The two new girls flank Shoto as the children close ranks, looking all the world like they'd known each other for years, despite each, likely, being his age. The cheer that had filled both moments before is replaced by quiet nerves for one and a strange quiet for the other.

Shoto looks between them with discomfort and concern, or what he thinks those feelings are. He's always related them to the rumbles of his tummy and those have yet to steer him wrong.

"Why are we all here?" he decides to ask because just because he's without a quirk doesn't mean he's without curiosity. "Are we hiding from someone?"

His brothers look at each other, not sure what to say but having something to say nevertheless because that is just how they are. They are full of thoughts.

The policewoman answers for them though. "Sorta," she says. RIich families have rich enemies dont they kiddo?"

SHoto frowns. He would imagine so but his father has so many villains who hate him (and heroes and people, and Shoto himself) that some of them would have to be rich. That'd only make sense. His father gets lots of law papers in his mailbox. Before… before, he used to complain about them.

Sero from ahead of him, scoffs. "I'd like to see 'em get to ma." His voice is somewhere between bragging and plain ol' proud. "She can tie people up so tight that their clothes fall off." This last part is a whisper and it makes Shoto's cheeks hurt with the effort of smiling. Because he's trying to imagine Riki's pants flying apart and showing off his _All Might_ underwear that he says he doesn't have but Shoto, who carries the laundry baskets, knows he does.

"Mine aren't particularly noteworthy." Jiro… is that her name…? Waves her hand like she's talking about weather rather than her own parents. Also noteworthy is a weird word. Kids aren't supposed to use that word. Even he knows that. "They're really rock and all, but it's not like they make much money in the hero business. It's just hungry sharks."

Shoto thinks of sharks in the sand and suddenly wants to climb into Hirose's arms and not leave until they reach the cottage. He doesn't do it, but he really wants to.

The inside of the small cottage is nice and cool and the ache in his face that he'd been ignoring makes itself known. So Shoto finds the nearest sink and splashes his face until it stops. It takes forever and by that time the sleeping bags have been moved.

His siblings crowd around him to put the new gauze on now that his burn's been exposed to the air. They're just being careful, he knows, but Shoto still doesn't like the new weight of the gauze. He pouts at them.

They're put into a room where the windows are just one big sliding door and they're all kept far away from it.

Yaoyozoru muffles a yawn behind her hand and looks about, expecting to be scolded, most like. Shoto tries to smile at her because he understands. He knows All Might always smiles when people are hurting to help them and surely he can do that. It only takes six muscles mama had said.

It works a little because while she doesn't smile back, she looks less tense as she lays down in the sleeping bag on his good side. Hirose is on his bad one and that's fine because Hirose can protect him and barely lift a finger. Not that he thinks anyone will really go after him but the idea of protecting anyone himself sounds silly now, with his eye like this.

And no Quirk. Yep, that hurt things.

These thoughts don't concern him for very long, however. He had spent all day in the sun, running around and seeing the water. Therefore, when he crashes, he crashes hard and is deeply asleep within minutes.

His brothers follow soon after.

Fuyumi, seeing this, finally feels her body give.

Everything hurts. Everything feels sticky and burnt and bleeding and she knows why and she doesn't regret it but she couldn't risk-

Tears spill out from her eyes, rough and salty and wet and cruel. Self-loathing. THey had all borne some form of this, why was it so bad?

Someone offers her a sip of water. She takes it greedily, drinking hard and fast. The policewoman places a hand on her shoulder but that's all.

"Don't stay up too late," she says, rather than forcing her to a sleeping bag, rather than making her lay down and still.

Painkillers are left to her side by the time she opens her eyes and the woman is gone.

With nothing better to do, Fuyumi goes outside. Each step is painful, but wallowing inside is so much worse.


	6. Chapter 6

_Warnings: discussion of infidelity, reference to adultery, child abuse_

* * *

 _Chapter Six - In Opposition_

Fuyumi, despite everything that has gone on here so far in this handful of hours, is starting to relax. Everything is very unpredictable, so she can't afford to do so much as drop her guard entirely. But the silence, blessed and beautiful, is unbearable after weeks and weeks of noise and the same time makes her chest hurt more.

She sits down, cautiously, on the sand. The water laps over her feet, making them tingle. It hits home, in the absence of everyone in a meter wide radius, that she really must look disgusting.

Not at all like a good older sister should, poised and confident and prepared for everything to just work out and love her and love everything in return. She… shudders with shame.

Her glasses dig down into her ear lobes but she lets them. She can't risk her vision being compromised more than it is. She cannot risk much of anything right now, much as she wants to just flop down and give way. After all, there's a small police presence nearby. It's too small.

Too small for Father.

It's the perfect size for mother, she knows. She's good at getting her way with words and faces and eyes, yes, guileless eyes that put her in the position of real power.

She knows her mother is just as much a victim, but she knows the truth.

Fuyumi knows what her father has done, had done to him, and stopped none of it. She knows, she knows and it's because of that that she-

A car door shuts in the distance. But there are no nearby parking lots. Fuyumi jerkily gets to her feet. There should only be one car, three at most. All of them should be police. No one ought to know that they're out here. Who is here?

Dread fills her stomach, but Fuyumi sucks in a breath, and begins to walk slowly towards the small parking lot. She hadn't gone far. That would have been the height of stupidity. Whoever it was, all she would have to do is make a lot of noise, buy a little time, and hopefully her siblings would wake up and escape and the policewoman would make it to her before there could be too much damage.

No one knew she had a quirk after all. No one.

Then she sees the figure walk into the light. Fuyumi stops walking and stares at her father.

How? She thinks and comes up empty. The police shouldn't have given it away. They're legally bound-

 _To obey heroes in times of emergency,_ her brain helpfully supplies from one of the many manuals she had read to report. _Family being taken from you qualifies as an emergency. It was likely labeled as their current setting was unsafe, not that their parents were unsafe._

 _Oh no._

"Fuyumi." He's looking at her. Father is looking at her. There's no fire, of course. He's never liked using his quirk directly on his children outside of practice. Not at first. Too many memories of it being used on him, most like. She can't say. It was what made his flare up the other day so different. "I suppose you're all here then."

Her mouth is dry. She doesn't breathe.

Endeavor takes it as an answer. "I see. Bring them out here. Your mother has calmed down now. It's time to go back."

It's the same voice. Not the one who had shouted days before, but the one, almost cajoling, that had told her,

 _Don't say a word, and you'll be free someday._

Which was a lie anyway, and she's old enough to know that now, but to a four-year-old girl who had seen her father's papers it had been the ultimate truth. Had seen the truth because her mother had shoved it in her face, so angry because Fuyumi had been in pain that day from an aching stomach and legs cramped from running. And the bitterness had overflowed and-

" _Did you know that your father has a real wife and someday will have a real kid that's not for him?"_

-And he had made her promise not to tell even though she'd known no one anyway.

Fuyumi is still standing there. His left eyebrow lifts, a tell of his displeasure. "Did you hear me?"

Fuyumi nods, mouth drier.

"Then go on."

She still doesn't move. In fact, she has never wanted to do anything less in her entire life.

"Are your legs that injured?" He sounds disdainful. "You've taken worse."

It's true. She's brutalized herself before because he's asked her to, because it's made her siblings feel better. But that's not why she's not moving.

Slowly, as if in a dream, Fuyumi lifts her hands up, steps one foot back.

Endeavor looks at her. He almost sighs. "Are you going to fight me like a hero would a villain? With nothing but your body?" He sounds… sad, almost. "You know what I can do to you."

This is also true. Father has… always, treated her differently. Not better, in some ways a part of her is sure he's worse to her, but like there is something in that head of hers that's not anywhere else.

"I know," she whispers. "I know. But… I can't. I can't let you see them. Or take them away. I can't."

"Why?" And there's that extra tone again. That extra, little thing like a spoiled child. "They'll be fine. Your mother has already decided for one more. They'll be perfectly fine."

"You two are _not fine_!" And it startles both of them really, how loud she says that. How much she means that. "Parents don't do these things and end up as good parents! Parents don't blackmail and beat their children. We're not even children to either of you!"

His teeth sink into his lip, hard. He begins to twitch and shift, moving back like an animal does before it pounces.

"We are things to mold to you!" Fuyumi shouts. She hopes she's loud. She hopes she's heard. She hopes that her anger is loud and clear. "We are things to bargain with, to play with and cajole like dolls to her! You two are both _terrible_!"

He pauses. "You do not see the ultimate goal."

Fuyumi almost chokes. Instead, she lowers her hands and much like that day in the hospital, gathers up the familiar something from deep in her stomach, her blood, her soul, and pushes outward.

Her body bursts into ice and flame, coiling and winding and engulfing her in its protective embrace.

"I have my own," she whispers. And it's keeping you both away from them."

She takes the widening of the eyes, the momentary flare of pride, and flies across the sand, smashing him in the face.

It feels good.

The pain happens immediately after, but it doesn't matter. Ice and fire dance around her, beyond pain, beyond all natural limits.

 _This is what heroes do,_ a sweet voice says in her mind.

Fuyumi grins, and for a moment she feels so proud.

Then she rushes him a second time and the ice and fire meet like the sound of a thunderclap with his own raging flames.

"Beautiful," he says.

And he means it. He really does. It hurts _how much he does._

She leaps back, moving with the speed he's never been good at, dancing on the uneven sand. These are things she's learned, from visiting that same place, year after year. He fires, throwing simple balls of flame at her. She gets nicked. Her bandages smoke and she throws ice at herself.

"Trying to get yourself closer to the water," she hears him say. Fuyumi winces. "Further from the house and closer to a source of water. GOod. Resourceful. Useful."

Flame hits her full force and she screams. It hurts. The smell is terrible, worse because it's so close again, she wasn't ready. She plants her feet again and throws. Flame or icicles, she doesn't know.

"The salt water won't help you,"she hears and anger pulses out of her. "It will only make it burn more, you know this."

Fuyumi dodges to the right, hears the splash. Smoke. Her body is smoking. She can't rely on her eyes anymore. She drops to the ground, listens for the second splash of foot to water. He's quite right. Her legs are hurting more.

But.

Fuyumi finds herself smiling again, damnably.

Fire goes down and her body immediately starts to freeze, frost snaking over her fingers on her other hand, much like the first. She throws her arms up and the ice bursts into a wall for the flames to lick at like tongues.

Fuyumi turns to run. She's not sure where, but behind her is likely towards the cottage and even a few minutes of time bought is better than nothing.

Where are the police? Can they even stop him? Can anyone but All Might?

She's going to have to t-

Her thought is cut off by a singular, pointed lance of fire. It cuts in, right into her back.

Fuyumi screams so much it wakes the dead.

There's the sound of a firecracker. Or maybe it's a gunshot.

She's fallen, she is breathing hard. It hurts. It can't move. She can't even lift her arms.

Another crack. This time there's some shouting.

Fuyumi makes herself move anyway. Her arms bunch up on her, hitting the ground and pushing, pushing and turning.

She can hear him on the sand. He is coming. Fuyumi forces herself to twist, tears coiling in her eyes. Trying to raise her arm only leads to absolute agony. She can't do it. Her body is tingling. So… so there's only one thing she can think of.

She struggles. It's choking, cloying. It's starting to hurt to breathe. She pulls up, up up over the sound of voices and him, him him-

Fuyumi spits icicles of blood and then proceeds to collapse.

* * *

Everything had happened so so fast.

Shoto had opened his eyes to Hirose shaking him, a finger over his lips. Riki is staring outside, horror in his usually nice features. The others were creeping closer and outside-

Outside his sister was fighting his father. She isn't winning. But she's fighting him. With ice and fire.

She's fighting back.

The whole thing is chaos. He itches to move, to chase her. And he can't. His eye hurts.

Still. He can't help but think:

His sister is so cool.


	7. Chapter 7

_Warnings: Family politics, child abuse, infidelity, trauma, Rei as a person, really bad parenting_

* * *

 _Chapter Seven - Armor, Plated_

Endeavor is arrested this time, really arrested, over a dozen witnesses see it. But it had been a fight, such a fight and so not like him. Hirose… doesn't know what to think.

He hadn't even looked sad, or defeated or angry, like he was supposed to. He was _meant_ to look like that, like the villains always looked. No, his eyes… were happy. Happy, proud, intent… on Fuyumi-nee-san. Fuyumi-nee-san, who they knew had power, who had two powers melded seamlessly into one.

Yet she had never been strong, not like that. Not brave or determined or anything heroic in the way that everyone knew heroes to be. And now they were wrong, all wrong.

She's carried off in a stretcher, and Shoto hurries to climb up beside her to squeeze her hand in comfort before she goes, eyes wet and smiling despite that wetness. Hirose looks around at the others, who look dreadfully scared and confused.

"Why was she fighting Endeavor," Sero whispers to him, so tiny and confused. There was no way Hirose had ever been _that_ in his life.

"Because Endeavor is awful," Hirose says matter-of-factly because it's true and god are they all screwed. Who is going to get custody of them? Their mother? Their grandparents who married them off? Was she okay?

Hirose wants to ask, desperately, but he also wants to go with Fuyumi in the car but he also knows that if he tries either of those things that he's going to swear and that will get nothing. So he tugs Riki's wrist, points once.

And mercifully, thankfully, his brother understands, and he goes. And he's left with Shoto. Which, incredibly, he doesn't mind. Shoto at least listens to him.

"But Endeavor's a hero," Sero says, but not angry or defensive or upset. Just thoughtful.

But he feels the steam on Shoto when the little boy speaks. "Well, he's not mine," the little boy declares and his fingers are rubbing his face a little too hard. "He's never going to be. Ever."

Hirose says nothing, but Shoto goes quiet anyway, doesn't ask questions, doesn't think of anything else to blurt out. But when Sero sits down in the sand, he still goes with him.

* * *

Todoroki Rei has made mistakes.

She won't deny that. Looking at the frail form of her daughter on this hospital bed as they get the room ready, keep her alive with healing Quirks, she _can't._ But she can be relieved that it's the beginning of the end.

She doesn't have to ask herself how things ended up like this anymore. She rubs at her eyes, bloodshot and red. She doesn't have the energy to cry over herself anymore. She just has enough to squeeze Fuyumi's fingers to see if they crack, and breathe a sigh of relief when they don't.

Perhaps he's not so terrible.

 _Don't be stupid, of course he is._

She doesn't recoil from this thought, sadly enough. He probably was always this terrible, this desperate, this feeble. To beat children, to beat her. To keep trying for a suitable heir. To make her absolutely sure that it's a good idea. And she had believed him and his lies.

And his truths. She'd believed his truths too.

There's a knock. Not a professional one, but an annoyed sort of rapping that there was a door in the way at all. And she knew exactly who it was, and she does not want to let them in.

Rei does anyway.

It's a woman, of course it's a woman. Her mother in law is nothing if not meddling and demeaning and controlling. She's more subtle than her son that is for sure, even though she taught him at her knee. But Rei knows the woman well, and just the sight of her is enough for the familiar nausea to creep up her throat with the pain.

The same pain as she had begun having at these feeble things she had birthed oh god what had she _done?_

"A pleasure, Rei." Her mother-in-law's voice sounded like a burn, like flesh roasting and that was a skill how is it possible? "If only it were other better circumstances."

Rei almost spits out the first words that come to mind until she sees the small child standing rigid at the woman's side. It takes a lot of control, but she's had control for years. She knows a test when she sees it. "Indeed, Hotaru-san." She turns away in her chair and looks at the little girl. Her hair is a vivid red, the color of blood and stained dynamite string. "You're up late, Etna-chan."

The woman makes a noise of disapproval, but the little girl nods, meets her blue eyes with her own hazel. "Yes, mother. Do not worry, I will rest soon. I was concerned about Fuyumi-onee-sama."

Rei curls her hand around the chair to control herself, the rage the sadness, the pain so much pain because she only has one daughter and it is not Todoroki Etna. Todoroki Etna is the only scrap of pity that she can muster for her husband and another innocent who is just being used in this game of trash and meaningless rankings. She has to remember that, has to remember this is just a child these are just children oh gods these are her children.

"She'll be resting for a while," she finally says. She doesn't lie to this girl, she'll find out the truth later anyway. "They have to check the state of her chest."

"She fought father?"

This girl is nothing like Shoto. She is too poised, too smacked upon. She has already resigned herself to being a puppet in a long line of them. And yet her heart weeps all the louder on the inside.

"She did," Hotaru says, pausing the tirade that had been burning Rei's throat again. "A foolish, idealistic notion but it likely pleased my boy nevertheless. I suppose there had to be one good heir of the four of them."

Rei dpes twitch and does not hide it. "I suppose to you that is exemplary."

"What else would it be? She needs training and now my son cannot give it. And you certainly won't."

Rei struggles for thoughts, for words. "Etna-chan? Why don't you sit with me until the others get here? You haven't met them yet."

She turns away from her mother-in-law, and the woman makes a dissenting sound in hatred of being ignored. But she goes ignored anyway.

Rei's not sure if her husband being arrested is good or not anymore, if not even three hours later this is what she has to deal with.

* * *

Mother is putting on a smile. Hirose's not an idiot, he can see this. She's smiled less and less this year and there's no reason to be happy when one of your children is put in the emergency room by your husband. Except they are there and therefore she has to fake it. She also has a small child literally the same height as their little brother and he's…

What's going on?

"Mother?" Thank every circle of life for Riki who has no fear when talking to their parents even when it could quite possibly end up with him getting a cracked head. "Who's that?" He's also holding Shoto's hand, which is good because their baby brother is trembling and three steps away from doing something ungodly stupid. That's what little brothers do. Even Hirose had done it, though he'd never say that out loud. Ever. They'd think he was joking. Or worse, trying to get out of something.

Their mother turns her head. The lights overhead make her more pale, more sad, draw out the lines in her face. The bandages stand out so much more when she looks at them, stretching her skin under them.

The child is still steadily looking at her book, unconcerned. Or maybe she doesn't care. Hirose couldn't guess.

"This is your half-sister, Etna," their mother finally says, and she sounds so tired, so empty. "Your father was required to present an heir. We were not the family that was initially chosen. And now with him under arrest, everything is suspect. But she is rather fond of your sister and asked to stay."

For a moment, Hirose sees red. So much red that he can't see anything else. But as he looks away, he hears the last part that isn't being spoken, the part they are too young to have worded properly.

This was not a child their father wanted.

And it makes none of this okay, nothing better. It makes it all worse when put like that. But this child is one of them, also unwanted, also a failure. And she will be one of them. Where else could she go?

Riki nudges him. Shoto hasn't made a sound. So Hirose takes the hint and takes their brother's free hand. He bristles a little, but he stops, his little face torn up with too many decisions.

Riki however steps over with a big beaming grin. "Hiya," he says. "I'm Riki."

She responds surprisingly fast despite not even looking. "I'm Etna." Her voice is chilled, but Hirose can hear how the sounds drag out. She's a tired kid.

If anything, Riki smiles wider. "Nice to meet you. You met Nee-chan, right?"

"Duh."

Shoto twitches and Hirose digs his thumbnail into his brother's palm. He makes a noise of pain but doesn't speak, which is enough. They'll think it's just that his face hurts. Which it probably does. Huh. That'll work.

"Come on," he says. "We should get your eye looked at."

He resists a moment, looking away stubborn as always. This is such a bad family of stubborn people. But then he nods and lets himself be pulled away.

Good. Because Hirose doesn't want to be there either.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ It lives! This beast has changed a lot since well, we got all these new chapters and I have all sorts of complicated... things. That Shoto's eventually going to get into. And we'll get back to the other kids soon I promise! I just wanted to go into the aftermath of well, Fuyumi fighting someone like her father. Even the immediate reaction. Also Etna. Little Etna. Oh is she going to be fun.


End file.
